Mountain View Drive

On cold, rainy days like today I can always warm up looking at pictures from our recent Southwest Sojourn. Hopefully this rain will melt or wash away the last snow piles around here. They somehow didn't seem so dreary when we saw them in Arizona.

Yes, snow. And yes, it is part of the unique beauty that is Flagstaff.

Even with a desert zip code, the city still gets plenty of snow each year thanks to the nearby mountains that oddly bears a California name. According to my sources, the San Francisco Peaks are a volcanic mountain range in north central Arizona, just north of Flagstaff and a remnant of the former San Francisco Mountain. The highest summit in the range, Humphreys Peak, is the highest point in the state of Arizona at 12,633 feet in elevation. We did not quite get that high up, but you'll see in a minute what our peak was.

I love mountains so I could not wait to see them! As we drove through Sedona on our way to Flagstaff from Mesa, we started to get occasional peeks of the peaks.

Got so excited when we caught a glimpse through the windshield without too much clutter in the foreground. Well, other than oncoming traffic. Was thinking we may not get a better view. So glad I was wrong.

The next morning on our way up to the Grand Canyon, we stopped in a Walgreens parking lot to get a "good" view.

Then it was a lot of random photos out the car window! Here, thanks to this cool feature on SnapChat, you can see we were at 7,027.56 feet elevation when I snapped this photo!

Looking good through the trees!

Around the point we got to 8,000 feet elevation, we saw more snow on the ground. There were places, too, where there were gates that could be used to close the highway in the event of major snow. Not sure what constitutes "major" snow for desert drivers.

We did pass another sign that said something like 8,036 feet elevation. It was so odd we knew that must have been the highest point we'd drive on our Highway 180 route.

So pretty with snow on the mountains. I'm guessing there is some good skiing there as we saw signs for the "Snow Bowl."

We made a stop at the Chapel of the Holy Dove, considered one of the oddities in the area just sitting in the middle of the Coconino National Forest. This is an oddity and an odd site since there is nothing for miles in either way. Pretty neat if you need to pray or just rest.

The little chapel is no larger than your typical RV. Only as tall as the door on the one end, then slightly vaulted A-frame ceiling and windows on the other for a mountain view.

Unfortunately, since this structure was built back in 1962, the trees have grown and now block the mountain view.

It is still pretty to see with the sun streaming in.

And there have been a lot of visitors over the 50 years, signing their names or including prayers or words of praise.

The benches and the pulpit bore evidence of visitors, too. Just a neat little pit stop.

We could see several of the peaks from this quick roadside stop. So gorgeous!

Didn't see it at all once we got close to the Grand Canyon and made our way further north and east to Page on that Wednesday. On Thursday, though, when we were making the long trek back to Mesa, we got one more look at them from the "backside." Just so cool!

Gotta love mountain view drives!